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North Middlesex schools on the rise

By Katina Caraganis , kcaraganis@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated:
11/20/2012 06:35:46 AM EST

TOWNSEND -- The North Middlesex Regional School District is no longer classified as a Level 3 school in the state's accountability and assistance system for MCAS testing after the superintendent's office appealed the classification to the state.

The state's five-level accountability and assistance system was established under the Achievement Gap Act of 2010. It classifies schools into five different levels.

A Level 1 school is one in which students are meeting the gap-narrowing goals, while a Level 5 school is classified as a chronically underperforming school.

Schools may also be classified as Level 2 for low MCAS participation (less than 95 percent) or Level 3 for very low MCAS participation (less than 90 percent) or for persistently low graduation rates.

NMRSD's original Level 3 classification, which was changed to a Level 2 classification rating, came as a result of an adjustment of MCAS participation data at the high school.

Assistant Superintendent of Schools Deb Brady said it was a small subgroup that is between the 90 percent and 95 percent participation ratio.

School Committee member Jonna Clermont said she's glad to see the appeal be granted because not only does it only take one school to set the category districtwide, but it also had nothing to do with the actual scores on the test.

She said the high school is considered a Level 1 school in terms of performance, but because it fell below certain participation requirements, it had originally been classified as a Level 3.

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"I think this is one of the reasons they're trying to address the attendance policy at the high school," Clermont said Monday. "There is even a makeup day, and they still couldn't meet the necessary standards."

The School Committee's policy subcommittee is in the process of rewriting much of the district's policy manual, and the attendance policy as proposed has taken some heat because some members of the School Committee feel it is too restrictive on kids who are succeeding but have other reasons for missing school.

"This isn't because of our performance, it's just about the amount of students who took it," Clermont said of the Level 2 assessment. "In essence, we'll have to wait and see how it goes. I'm glad the superintendent appealed. I think it was good grounds to appeal it. I'm sure we will be a Level 1 soon. We were a 1 as far as performance goes."

Brady said that while she is glad the district is no longer classified in the lower ranking, it is frustrating that the ranking doesn't reflect the whole picture.

"What still bothers me is that this percentage is only one bit of data that has kept the high school from being a Level 1, which they earned for their academic performance," she said.

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